Arrest of NewsClick Journalist by Delhi Police Illegal: Supreme Court
Arrest of NewsClick Journalist by Delhi Police Illegal: Supreme Court
The top court did not order to take any punitive action against the Delhi Police officials involved in this illegal activity.
By RMN News Service
In its judgment today (May 15), the Supreme Court of India stated that the arrest of NewsClick founder and Editor-in-Chief Prabir Purkayastha by the Delhi Police is illegal. Purkayastha was arrested under the draconian Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act 1967 or UAPA.
The Court noted that Delhi Police had arbitrarily arrested the journalist without providing a copy of the remand application before issuing the remand order on October 4, 2023. In other words, the police did not reveal the grounds of arrest in writing.
According to an NDTV report of today (May 15), a bench of Justices BR Gavai and Sandeep Mehta said the remand copy was not provided in the case, which makes Purkayastha’s arrest void. However, as usual, the top court did not order to take any punitive action against the Delhi Police officials involved in this illegal activity.
Purkayastha was arrested on October 3 last year when a loose New York Times (NYT) article had alleged that NewsClick had received funding from a network, which is pushing Chinese propaganda in the country.
In its charge sheet of about 8,000 pages filed in March, Delhi Police accused NewsClick and Purkayastha of terror funding and promoting Chinese propaganda. It had also arrested NewsClick’s HR head Amit Chakravarty on October 3, but in January, a court allowed him to turn approver in the case before his release.
After the arrest of Purkayastha, a slew of journalists at different media organizations had approached the Chief Justice of India, D.Y. Chandrachud, with the appeal to stop increasing attacks on press freedom in India.
In a letter dated October 4, 2023 sent to the Chief Justice, the media organizations expressed that the freedoms in India will be safe if the journalists are allowed to work freely without any threat of reprisals.
In their letter, the journalists had written about the October 3 incident when Delhi Police – which is the most brutal and untrained police force in the country – raided the homes of 46 journalists and professionals working with the NewsClick news site.
While two NewsClick staffers were arrested under UAPA and with terrorism charges, the police forcibly seized computers and mobile phones of various journalists.
During the past 10 years of prime minister (PM) Narendra Modi’s regime, journalists have been working under an environment of fear as there are increasing physical attacks on media persons, arbitrary legal cases against them, and their unlawful imprisonments. The letter also stated that police are harassing journalists with frivolous cases filed against them.
The current situation is more dangerous than an emergency: Arundhati Roy. Video Courtesy: The Wire
As the lawless Delhi Police works like a gang of criminals, in March, international press freedom organization Reporters Without Borders (RSF) and Guernica 37 Chambers called on the European Union to sanction four high-ranking officers of the Delhi Police, responsible – directly or indirectly – for exactions against dozens of journalists working or having collaborated with NewsClick.
Meanwhile, the 2024 World Press Freedom Index released on May 3 by RSF shows that India is increasingly becoming a dangerous place for journalists. India’s rank on the RSF Index fell from 142 in 2021 to 150 in 2022 to 161 in 2023, and now it is 159 in 180 countries – which is a manifestation of the fact that press freedom is constantly under state attack.
